Ukrainian drones have reportedly struck a significant oil refinery in Russia’s Volgograd region for the second time in less than three months, according to Kyiv’s general staff.
The attack, which Ukraine claims occurred on Wednesday, targeted the largest producer of fuel and lubricants in Russia’s Southern Federal District.
Ukrainian officials estimate the refinery processes over 15 million tonnes of crude annually, accounting for approximately 5.6 per cent of the country’s total refining capacity.
While Russian officials have not confirmed the drone strike, the local governor acknowledged a fire at an unspecified industrial facility in the area.
This incident comes amidst a sustained campaign of mutual assaults on energy infrastructure by both Russia and Ukraine.
The attacks persist despite ongoing US-led diplomatic efforts that have yet to yield any significant impact on the nearly four-year conflict.
Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion.
Russia wants to cripple the Ukrainian power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Kyiv officials say is an attempt to “weaponise winter”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said foreign countries are helping Kyiv in its efforts to keep the power grid operating amid Russia’s onslaught.
“Practically every day, our power engineers, repair brigades, and the State Emergency Service of Ukraine are carrying out restorations on-site after attacks: hits keep occurring across various points, especially in our communities, and especially near the Russian border and close to the front,” he said.
Ukraine, meanwhile, has attempted to strike targets on Russian soil with domestically developed long-range drones.
Ukrainian forces also struck three fuel lubricants facilities in the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula and a storage and assembly base for Russia’s Shahed drones in an occupied area of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the general staff statement said.
In the Kostroma region northeast of Moscow, a Ukrainian aerial attack hit unidentified “energy infrastructure facilities”, Gov. Sergei Sitnikov said. There were no casualties and power supplies were not disrupted, he said.
Unconfirmed media reports said the attack targeted a hydroelectric power plant in the Kostroma region, one of the biggest in Russia.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday its air defenses shot down 75 drones overnight over multiple Russian regions and annexed Crimea.
Russia, meantime, attacked the city of Kamianske in Ukraine’s eastern Dnipropetrovsk region with drones overnight, injuring eight people, the head of the regional military administration, Vladyslav Haivanenko, said on his official Telegram channel.
Several fires broke out and the roof of a four-story building was partially destroyed, he said.
The Russian military also continued its assault on Ukraine’s rail infrastructure, causing delays and route changes in Ukraine’s eastern regions of Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk and in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine’s state-owned railway company Ukrzaliznytsia said.
Russia attacked Ukraine with 135 drones of various types overnight on Thursday, Ukraine’s air force said.
